MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 2 1

Focus of the lesson: word choice, imagery, and symbols

1. WORD CHOICE

(information excerpted from the following website)

http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/literature/poetry.html#diction

Poetry, the most compressed form of literature, is composed of carefully

chosen words that often express great depth of meaning.

The poet chooses each word carefully so that both its meaning and its sound
contribute to the tone and feeling of the poem. The poet must consider a
word's:
o denotation - its definition according to the dictionary
o connotation - the emotions, thoughts and ideas associated with and
evoked by the word.

We studied these terms in Unit 1, Lesson 4.

ACTIVITY 3-2-1

COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY ON WORD CHOICE ON PAGE 2 IN THIS

LESSON.

ACTIVITY ON WORD CHOICES IN POETRY

MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 2 2

DIRECTIONS: Word choices in poems communicate not only meaning, but

also TONE and MOOD. Read the following poem, which as written
communicates a tone of relief and happiness after a time of trouble. Use
the space above each line to replace each underlined word with a word
that produces a different tone. The first line has been done to show you an
example.

snowed icy pellets

EXAMPLE: It rained today in buckets

Earth Tone
by William Dotani

It rained today in buckets

The sky so gloomy and gray

I sang melodies alone

To the rhythm of the rain

For when the rain stopped falling

Peaks of sunshine made me smile

That was earth at Heaven's door

Washing away all my sadness

2. IMAGERY
MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 2 3

Imagery is language that describes something in detail, using words

to substitute for and create sensory stimulation, including visual
imagery and sound imagery. The term also refers to specific and
recurring types of images, such as food imagery and nature imagery.
Images are often used to evoke atmosphere, mood, and tension within
a literary work. For example, images of crowded, steaming sidewalks
flanking streets choked with lines of shimmering, smoking cars
suggest oppressive heat and all the psychological tensions that go with
it.

Through imagery, the reader can experience the poem both physically
and psychologically.

ACTIVITY 3-2-2

Click on the following link to read the poem “Reflections on a Gift of

Watermelon Pickle”—a poem rich in imagery.

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle

As you read the poem, complete the activity on imagery on page 4 of this
lesson.
MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 2 4

ACTIVITY ON IMAGERY

DIRECTIONS: After you read the poem, find five images and write
them in the chart below. For each image, explain how it appeals to
the senses (to sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, or perhaps a
combination of several senses) and what kind of association or
emotion it creates in the reader.

Imagery in “Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle”

IMAGE HOW IT APPEALS TO EMOTION/ASSOCIATION
THE SENSES
MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 2 5

3. SYMBOLS

You studied symbols in Unit 2, Lesson 5. Remember that symbolism

is a device in literature where an object represents an idea. For example, in
the poem “Watermelon Pickle,” watermelon symbolizes the careless freedom
of childhood.

Look at the following poem by the eighteenth century English poet William
Blake. The poem makes sense only if the reader can imagine what each
image in the poem symbolizes. That is not to say that every reader will have
exactly the same vision. Everyone who reads literature filters it through his
or her own psyche and set of experiences, so a piece of literature may be
legitimately interpreted in a myriad of ways.

Here are Blake’s poem and one possible interpretation of the symbolic
images in the poem.

The sick rose

O Rose, thou art sick!

The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

 Rose: a symbol of perfection and the flower of Venus (the Roman goddess of
love). It also stands for joy and peace. The rose is always seen as feminine.
A red rose can represent life, spring, passion and blood. A white rose can
represent purity and virginity.
 Worm: a symbol of death. It is connected with lowness, vileness and
contempt. It is also a masculine force. In this poem, worm is also specifically
the canker worm which eats the roots of the rose.
 Storm: a symbol of chaos, confusion, fear, wildness, destruction and change.
The storm can also be seen as blowing away the old and frail and giving the
new room to expand. If the storm is seen to have creative effects, there
must first be great wildness and destruction.
 Night: a symbol of darkness, of things secret and hidden. It is also a symbol
of evil. Satan is referred to as the Prince of Darkness.
 Bed: a symbol of sleep and the vulnerability and innocence of sleep. In this
poem it is also, of course, a garden bed.

REMEMBER: These are just some of the many possible meanings

associated with the symbols used in the poem.
MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 2 6

ACTIVITY 3-2-3

ACTIVITY ON SYMBOLS

Langston Hughes (1902-1967), author of “Dream Deferred,” grew up during a time

when African-Americans were second-class citizens who could only dream of
equality in education, housing, and employment. The question the poet asks in
this poem is: “What will happen if oppressed people have to wait too long for the
dream of equality to become a reality?” To find the answer to his question, the
reader must interpret the symbols in the poem.

DIRECTIONS: Read the poem and then use the graphic organizer on the
next page to fill in your interpretation for each of the underlined symbolic
images in the poem. Remember: answers will vary. There is no one RIGHT
answer! The poem is printed twice, so that you can read through it first without the distraction
of underlined text.

Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred1? (1deferred = put off until a later time)
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
--Langston Hughes
MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 2 7

Dream Deferred
Text Your Explanation
What happens to a dream deferred?
NA
(1) Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
(2 )Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
(3) Does it stink like rotten meat?

(4) Or crust and sugar over--

like a syrupy sweet?
(5) Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
6 Or does it explode?